5th Women's Ronde van Vlaanderen - CDM

Belgium, April 6, 2008

Arndt takes the Flanders High Road

German former world champion Judith Arndt (Team High Road) has won the fifth Ronde Van Vlaanderen in a two-up sprint from American Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team). The pair arrived at the finishing line together, but the former world time trial champion was no match for the German veteran, and Arndt crossed the line two bike lengths clear. In a race dominated by the High Road and Cervelo Lifeforce teams, it was no surprise that a rider from each team would end up contesting the final victory.

The sprint for third was taken by Omloop Het Wolk winner Kristen Wild (AA Drink Cycling Team) from Arndt's team-mate Oenone Wood and newly crowned world points race champion Marianne Vos (DSB Bank). They led home a group of fourteen riders that included defending champion Nicole Cooke (Halfords Bikehut) and world champion Marta Bastianelli (Italian National Team) twenty-one seconds behind the leading pair.

Arndt's first thought was to credit her team for a job well done. "It was some great team-work," she told Cyclingnews straight after the finish. "We were always in the breakaway: with Chantal [Beltmann] and Luise [Keller], and it was just a perfect race."

Asked about her confidence of beating Armstrong as they arrived on the finishing straight together, she revealed that she had not been too confident about being able to out-sprint the American. "I was not sure, but usually I'm not so bad in sprinting.

"When you win, you can party," she continued. "I don't know how we'll celebrate. We'll do it with the whole team."

Fourth place finisher, Arndt's team-mate Oenone Wood reflected Arndt's sentiments.
"It was great;" she told Cyclingnews as she caught her breath. "We've
done this race so many times as a team and had bad luck. I think in this race
you have to have everything fall into place and you can't afford any mistakes.
I think we rode really well as a team today. Chantal [Beltman] was in that break
early on, then Luise [Keller] got across to her, and that allowed the rest of
us to really look after ourselves and stay in good positions."

Emphasising the fact that High Road are celebrating this as very much a team
victory, team representative Petra Rossner spoke to Cyclingnews after
the race. She specifically praised the work of Australian Kate Bates who worked
tirelessly for team captain Arndt, protecting her on the numerous cobbled sections
and climbs.

On finishing third, Kirsten Wild was disappointed not to get the victory,
but satisfied overall to have made the podium. "I'm happy enough with this result,"
she said. "We had a team-mate [Emma Johansson] in the front group [early on],
but I wouldn't have minded if everything had come together."

Wild's team-mate Emma Johannson was in the leading group that formed on the Molenberg after just 33km, but only managed to finish ninth in the group behind Arndt and Armsrtong. "Of course I'm disappointed." she said. "The whole day away; I felt good in there as well. People were starting to come back and were attacking, but you can't react to everything. I really did have a chance for a top-three, because on the Bosberg we were only with the four of us. But that's what happens.

"We were going too slow, they were going too fast." she continued "On the Muur I was really suffering. On the Muur she [Chantal Beltman] was so much stronger, but we chased back to Chantal. So, Just before the Bosberg we caught back up with them. During the climb we just sat on her wheel. I didn't realize they were so close behind."

Surprised that the forecast rain – some of which fell on the men's race –
stayed away, Johannson explained, "It was ok. It was dry. It wasn't bad. It
wasn't cold. I was really warm - we were lucky there. When we did the Valkenberg
I noticed that it was really dark above Oudenaarde, but we then turned around
and didn't get it. It was good."

Also part of the early break, Giorgia Bronzini (Italian National Team) was
unlucky with mechanicals and finally finished in 78th place, 2:43 behind Arndt.
Nevertheless, she remained upbeat about her race. "Bene, bene," she told
Cyclingnews, "it went really well, but unfortunately I punctured on the
hardest climb."

Last year's winner Nicole Cooke (Halfords Bikehut) finished in the leading group for her second World Cup race in succession, and despite showing some form with a late attack, finished last in the sprint for the line.

"I just looked to see what was going on," she said after the race. "Armstrong and Arndt got away. I followed some moves; then with about a kilometre and a half to go, I followed Brandli. There was a bit of a gap because she swung off, so I put my head down and went. I got about 100m, 150m, not much choice: I could only commit, otherwise if I got caught by the bunch I'd get beaten in the sprint anyway, so I went like crazy, but got passed with 150m to go."

Cooke was also quick to praise the tactics employed by the teams of the two leading riders – something she herself had the luxury of in last year's race. "Cervelo and High Road both rode very well with their strong riders," she continued, "putting them in the front group and then having chasers come across, so both riders had three in the front group and they used that to their advantage"

British rider Emma Pooley (Specialized Designs for Women) was defending her lead in the World Cup that she gained by virtue of her victory in last month's Trofeo Alfredo Binda. Asked if her first experience of the Ronde had been good, she told Cyclingnews."Hard, not good, hard."

Unfortunately, Pooley did not find that the World Cup jersey gave her any extra boost to her performance, quite the opposite in fact. "It really didn't make any difference," she said, "it was just horrible. It was just even more embarrassing, frankly, wearing this jersey."

How it unfolded

188 women from 32 teams took the start of the fifth Ronde Van Vlaanderen for
women, in Oudenaarde just before midday. Despite predictions of bad weather
– even heavy snow – they set off under almost unbroken sunshine, in fact the
many showers that fell on the men's race stayed away from the women and they
enjoyed dry roads for the entire race. Temperatures were well down on last year's
unseasonable heat however, and many riders began the race with leg or knee warmers.

The first serious attack of the day came just before the Molenberg – the first climb of the day – where seven riders broke clear of the peloton. The break, consisting of Chantal Beltman and Luise Keller (both Team High Road), Marianne Vos (DSB Bank), Noemi Cantele (Team Bigla), Sarah Düster (Cervelo Lifeforce), Emma Johansson (AA Drink) and Giorgia Bronzini (Italian National Team). They quickly gained twenty seconds on the peloton.

A group of around fifteen riders detached from the front of the peloton, containing
the entire rest of the High Road team. Bronzini suffered a puncture at this
point, and she and Keller were dropped. Despite working together, they failed
to regain the front group. By the mid point of the race, the gap reached a maximum
of one minute and ten seconds.

On the climb of the Muur-Kapelmuur, the front five were caught by the chasing
group which included defending champion Nicole Cooke (Halfords Bikehut) and
also Kristin Armstrong and Christiane Soeder (both Cervelo Lifeforce), Judith
Arndt and Oenone Wood (both High Road), Canele's Bigla team-mate Nicole Brandli,
Suzanne De Goede (Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung) and world champion Marta Bastianelli
(Italian National Team).

The leading riders stayed together for the next few kilometres, and after the Bosberg, there were sixteen riders in the lead with the remainder of the peloton now out of contention.

On the fast rolling roads between the Bosberg and the finish, Armstrong put in a powerful attack that only Arndt managed to follow and the pair quickly pulled away with no one in the rest of the group attempting to chase.

Armstrong and Arndt rounded the final corner with 500 metres to go with a lead of around twenty seconds on the rest and the German easily out sprinted the American to take her first victory in this race.

A late attack from Cooke was neutralised by the chasing pack and Kirsten Wild led them home, out sprinting Arndt's team-mate Wood, and former world champion Vos took fifth. De Goede finshed in sixth place and takes the lead in the World Cup standings.